August 8-9, 2014

This was a typical August weekend with high humidity and temperatures in the low 90s during the day and low 70s overnight. We were also fortunate to have received almost an inch of rain Thursday, some sprinkles Friday afternoon, and it had just begun to rain again when we left Saturday. I got this butterfly picture Saturday morning on our walk.

Garden

It was nice not having to water. Sally continued picking green beans, dragon beans, peppers, and basil. She made yet another double batch of pesto. She freezes half and we eat the other half. I did not get any weeding done, although it needs it.

Masked Bandits

The green bird feeder was totally empty. That told me the racoons had cleaned it out. So about dusk I was keeping watch and, sure enough, momma and two little ones showed up. I got this picture by quietly sneaking out the door and onto the porch. (One of the little ones had heard me and bolted.) I wish I could have seen how she gets up there. I presume it just needs to be higher. I really don't like encouraging them.

Deer

When we went out for a walk in the morning we heard this deer just up the hill. He/she did not seem afraid of us, and just stood there watching us and twitching its tail like a dog. When we got back from our walk it was just past the fire pit grazing. And later when I was walking down to the walnut tree, I heard and saw one in the woods above the road. I figured it was the same deer.

Blue Birds

I was eager to check on the baby blue birds I had seen the previous weekend. Before I opened the box however, I knew it was bad news because I could smell death. They were there, but it seems they either starved or burned up in the heat. Nature is cruel. I was surprised there was a nest and eggs this late in the year.

Mow/Weed Eat

The only mowing I did was out back. The rest just didn't look like it needed it, and with no showings scheduled I thought I would just let it go another week. I did take the brush whacker up the road, around the cattle guard, and back down the other side. That was needed.

Walnut Milled

After dropping three walnut logs at the millers the previous weekend, I still had one more (the largest) plus a few large limbs to transport. I was nervous about getting this heaviest log loaded. It was a slow process, but really no problem. The first task was to get it out of the wooded area where it lay. (You can just see the end of it painted red in this picture.) I had decided to use the truck and drag it out, which worked very well. I only had to adjust its direction once using my crow bar.

I then inched it around parallel to the hill and stepped it down to the truck and ramps with the crow bar and a stop log – the same I had done the previous weekend with the other logs. It was a bit more cumbersome getting up the ramps and into the truck due to its size, but the ramps were not as steep and most of it I did by hand. (The come-a-long didn't help much.) I did get drenched in sweat during the process.

We had been in contact with Ryan and thought we were going to drop the load at his mill on the way back to town, and that I would come out Sunday and help/watch him mill all of it. But as we neared Huntsville in the rain Sally had the idea of just bringing the logs with me Sunday and save a trip to his backwoods mill. I was able to get him on the phone and we agreed to start at 9:30 Sunday. It is almost an hours drive for me, and he had worked until 8 at his firefighting job. I thought he had meant 8pm, but he hadn't gotten off until 8am!

Three of his six children (all under the age of 9) were out with us during most of the milling. They were sweet and kept bringing me cherry tomatoes from the garden. Once they went inside and came back with pictures they had colored for me. Ryan did a good job with his Wood-Mizer, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching and helping throughout the process. It only took him three hours to finish the job. I threw and extra hour's pay in for him.

At home I had to unload and stack them with stickers between the stacks. Sally helped by sweeping the boards at the truck before I took them down. Drying is a critical step in making lumber, to fast and it cracks and to slow it will mildew. Its some pretty wood, and even cut it is heavy. I weighed a squared off board at 84 pounds. Later I weighed one of the two center cuts which I had had him leave the natural edge on, and it was right at 100 pounds. I topped off the stack with cinder blocks and placed a small fan blowing across it. I am still learning, and decided to re-stack it Wednesday night with more stickers, more uniformly placed, and closer to the ends.

I measured and counted the boards. I am recording that information here for my own future reference. (A board foot is a 1 inch thick board 12" wide and 12" long.)

3"x3" legs of varying lengths

1 3', 1 5'2", and 1 6'2" for 10.5 board feet.

1" boards all 7' but varying widths

8 2", 3 3", 3 4", 2 5", 2 6", 1 7", and 1 8" for 44.3 board feet.

2" boards all 7' but varying widths

1 6", 3 8", 1 9", 3 10", 1 12", and 2 13" for 124 board feet.

2.5" boards all 7' but varying widths

1 7", 2 8", and 2 10" for 62.7 board feet.